Bacon has achieved cult status and taken on a life of its own. From bacon lip balm (I own some) to bacon band-aids (yep, I've got those too) to bacon candy-canes (you betcha, I've got 'em) bacon is all the craze these days. As a lifelong bacon lover, I'm enjoying every minute of this bacon craze because it's introduced me to all sorts of bacon related things that I never would have thought of before. Like sweet and spicy bacon chicken.

You've probably seen the recipe for sweet and spicy bacon chicken floating around Facebook. I'm guessing about 275 of my Facebook friends have shared the recipe with me this month alone and it looks delicious. But is it?  Well, I decided to find out for myself.

First, here's the recipe:

Traci Taylor
Traci Taylor
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Ingredients: chicken breast strips, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper, bacon, brown sugar.

They look like little mummies, don't they?
They look like little mummies, don't they?
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Directions: Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder. I love garlic, so put extra on my chicken. Next, wrap your chicken in bacon. I wrapped mine in a downward spiral so that every inch of the chicken was covered in the deliciousness that is bacon. Put your seasoned and bacon wrapped chicken on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven until the bacon is nice and crispy- about 30-40 minutes. 35 minutes was perfect for me.

Let the mouth watering begin!
Let the mouth watering begin!
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Let cool enough so that you don't burn yourself and then devour.

Trust me when I tell you that these are every bit as amazing as the photos I'd seen made them to look. Maybe even more so. I was a little worried that the chili powder might add too much heat, but it was just the right amount. I guess if you like things more on the spicy side, you could douse your chicken in chili powder, but I sprinkled a medium amount on mine.

I love when a dish is outrageously delicious, but surprisingly simple to make. This is one of those. It didn't even take me 5 minutes to put the whole thing together before popping it in the oven.

I will tell you though- I've not yet mastered the art of cooking with brown sugar in the oven and not having it burn to the pan. The chicken wasn't burned at all, but my pan is gonna need to soak for a good long time. I learned a very good lessons while making this recipe: my smoke detectors work.

My poor, poor pan.
My poor, poor pan.
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